ABSTRACT
In bridge engineering, one of the constant challenges is to find new and better means to design new bridges or to strengthen existing ones against destructive natural effects. One avenue, as a traditional way, is to design bridges based on strength theory. This approach, however, can sometimes be untenable both economically and technologically. Other alternatives, as shown in Chapter 9, include installing isolators to isolate seismic ground motions and adding passive energy dissipation devices to dissipate vibration energy and reduce dynamic responses. The successful application of these new design strategies in bridge structures has offered great promise [11]. In comparison with passive energy dissipation, research, development, and implementation of active control technology has a more recent origin. Since an active control system can provide more control authority and adaptivity than a passive system, the possibility of using active control systems in bridge engineering has received considerable attention in recent years.
